In a typical bottling operation, bottle closures, such as plastic bottle caps, are conveyed from a ground level container or bin to a capper hopper which may be 15 feet above ground level and 100 feet away from the ground level container. It is known in the art to convey the closures from the ground level container through a tube to the capper hopper using an air conveying system.
A conventional ground level container is typically a fixed bin located under the air conveying system. The tube extends from the fixed bin to the capper hopper. The bottler or other operator loads the fixed bin with closures which are typically delivered to the bottler in disposable shipping boxes. The operator empties the closures out of the shipping boxes into the fixed bin and discards the shipping boxes. The closures are metered from the fixed bin to an infeed hopper and then air conveyed through the tube to the capper hopper.
This type of closure apparatus has several drawbacks. One drawback with this type of apparatus is that when the closures need to be changed for any reason, the closures must be removed manually from the bin. This operation is relatively time consuming and adds costs to the overall capping operation. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a closure transferring method and apparatus that is more efficient.
Another drawback is that after the fixed bin is emptied during operation, the bin must be manually refilled. This operation is relatively time-consuming and adds costs to the overall production costs. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a closure transferring apparatus that is more efficient.